The Kweendom of Abstraction

teens

Everyday I see SOME thing…whether it’s televised as news, posted on the net or dramatized for television, where people (teens especially) are going IN on each other. Bullying. Attacking defenseless souls who just want to be left alone, accepted, loved, respected…and yet, they’re singled out by miserable people who seek to bring pain to someone else.

Is it peer pressure? Is it that thing that you do with a group of people because you’re just DAMNED glad it’s not YOU on the receiving end? Is it that thing you do because you’re beat up on at home, or you feel inferior to others, or because you want to be feared…because being feared is better than being disliked?

Whatever the motivation…it’s sickening. I’ve seen enough REAL life stories run across my home feed on Facebook…and now, it’s seemingly so serious that producers and writers are making it priority to include this subject into their series. On my soap “One Life To Live”…a young boy gets taunted daily…relentlessly, because he’s asthmatic and carries an inhaler. They call him Weezy and threaten his life if he was to ever tell. The boy was stripped naked and taped. The video…posted to “MyFace” (gotta laugh at THAT) leaving him so embarrassed that he attempted to jump from a building.

On CSI tonight…a young pregnant teen hung herself in her closet because she was harassed on her phone over and over again. Again, a video released…gone viral…rendering her so embarrassed that successfully, she kills herself. Although these are television shows…it is just a depiction of what is REALLY going on in this world. The young man who committed suicide after his sexuality was revealed via video…that happened!!

Parents…I pray that you’re monitoring your children’s Internet time. I pray that you’re monitoring their cell time as well. There are programs out there that help you trace every keystroke on your child’s computer…allowing you a glimpse of what their activities are. If your child is inflicting harm on others (or is being harmed) there are underlying issues related to their 1) willingness to assault someone so viciously and cruelly. 2) the willingness to TAKE such abuse, not feeling comfortable with coming to you for help.

Perhaps if a child is despondent, obstinate, disrespectful, aggressive and/or evasive with their activities and whereabouts…you may want to consider that he/she may also be taking out those feelings on classmates. If they’re just despondent and passive…and are also keeping secrets…you may want to investigate if they’re being picked on. The best thing you can do is give your child the confidence to speak to you openly. Sometimes adults can come off such the disciplinarian that it invokes fear instead of respect. I’m sure it’s hard to walk that happy medium when trying to scare the life of Job into an aimless child…but, it’s about knowing YOUR kid.

Why am I giving parental advice to parents when I’m not one…(before I gotta tell somebody something, lol). It’s because I’ve BEEN that child. BOTH sides of the coin, too. I’ve bullied and been bullied and I can tell you that as a child whose being hemmed up by someone bigger, it’s not easy to tell mom what’s popping in the streets when her motto is, “IF you come home crying about getting beat up, I’M gonna whoop your ass…”. Yea, it’s that old school shit…and it works to a degree (it’s meant to encourage you not to back down…and to fear MOM over ANY fool in the street). Yet, when it’s happening to you and you’re up against more than one, especially…that theory goes out the window and you’re left with the fight of your life and no stones for your handy-dandy David Slingshot with the super snap back rubber band…

It hurts me to see so many children given such a hard time in school. If it’s not enough to go to school, do the work and pass…they also have to dodge physical, emotional, spiritual and mental harm from children who don’t seem to have anyone keeping them in line.

What us gone do? What can we do to keep these children from inflicting pain on one another?